We are not to think that we can organize prayer as if we are in control. The very ability to pray with unction and faith is given by the Holy Spirit, and although that activity largely precedes revival, prayer also is an integral part of revival.
Erroll Hulse

The Benefits of Faith: 11 Ways God Is Sustaining Humanity

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God has been intimately involved with humanity since He created us.  He has helped us understand our world, each other, and our need for Him since the beginning.  He has explained how we may resist the evil of Satan, and has driven demons out of men and women afflicted by them.

As our knowledge of creation continues to grow, we are astounded at the deep complexity and sophisticated design of all that is.  It takes greater foolishness to believe this all sprang from nothing, than it takes of Faith (only the size of a mustard seed) to acknowledge the artistic handiwork of God.

As fallen man continues to press toward greater “freedom” from God, they throw away the Savior we so desperately need, who has set laws/safeguards in place to protect (His creation) and let us thrive with a full life. Man without God will destroy itself, because it succumbs to Satan, who is anti-God (and anti-creation).  In January 2024, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (SASB) set the Doomsday Clock to 90 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been to midnight.  This trend correlates directly with mankind’s rejection of God, and self-destruction.

Here are 11 ways God can sustain humanity:

  1. God defines Truth – He is Truth
    • Fallen man rightly concludes that no man is a perfect source of truth, and leaves their followers with the hopeless directive to accept all viewpoints (today’s “diversity” training).  No man can respect non-truth – that leads to anarchy and destruction.

      • all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth.  Daniel 9:13

    • God is the Absolute Standard of Truth, and He is the source of it.  “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”, Jesus says.
  2. God provides Daily and Eternal comfort
    • God knows our hardships and struggles full well.  Unlike an empty religion of man, God offers His relationship with us, to comfort and lead us…

      • But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.  John 14:26

        • He counsels us daily, and we can speak to Him in prayer, and learn about Him in the Bible.
      • The eternal comfort His followers will receive, is to live with Him forever in Heaven…

        • “he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more” Revelation 21:4

      • This is the Living God – not the dead gods of fallen man.
  3. God’s Ongoing Acts of Compassion

    • When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  Matthew 9:36

      • God reaches out especially to the weak.  Those who think they are strong (or superior), often do not think they need God – but they are deceived – as Saul experienced on the road to Damascus in Acts 9 – and God tries to save them too.
    • In my own life, I have experienced God’s healing (weak eye muscle, multi-year bacterial foot infection, etc), protection (from a welding explosion), salvation (from a life of sin), and unmistakable love (I know for sure He likes me!)

      • As he went ashore he saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick.  Matthew 14:14

    • It is through God’s guidance that many acts of compassion are done, such as George Muller’s orphanages for thousands of children, and feeding/clothing the poor (eg. Mother Theresa, Heidi Baker).  Many of our hospitals and colleges were originally begun by followers of God to care for people, who He loves.  Such acts continue today.

      • I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days, and have nothing to eat [and so he miraculously fed them all];  Mark 8:2

  4. God sets us Free
    • Free from what?  Jesus says that many of us are slaves to sin.

      • anyone who chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead-end life and is, in fact, a slave. A slave can’t come and go at will. The Son, though, has an established position, the run of the house. So if the Son sets you free, you are free through and through.  John 8:34

      • Addictions, obsessions, things we voluntarily chose that we cannot now control.
    • What is sin?  Here are some examples…
      • Any time we prioritize something ahead of God
      • Whenever we fashion a god that suits us better than God, such as relaxing His laws, or redefining His truth.
      • When we use God’s name disrespectfully, such as swearing or cursing or lying about something God said or did.
      • Not keeping God’s day of rest Holy, is offensive to Him.  It’s kind of like forgetting your wedding anniversary…but this is one that happens every week.  As God, he is eager for the loving relationship and respect this day offers.
      • Sin is when we disrespect our parents.  It is possible to respect the role, even though the person(s) may be faulty.
      • Anyone who has murdered has sinned.
      • Anyone who is sexually involved with someone other than the one they are married to, has sinned.
      • Whoever has stolen or cheated someone from what they have or are due.
      • When we lie about what someone else did or didn’t do.
      • Sin is also longing for something/someone that belongs to someone else.  Money, property, position, wife/husband/child, etc.
    • Jesus has the power to free us (now), and save us (eternally) from the penalty of our sin.
    • A society with God’s laws is good, just as psychologists have agreed a sound framework of rules makes a child mentally healthy.  As the designer of Life, God knew what He was doing when He wrote the 10 commandments.

      • Moral guidelines are oppressive and legalistic only to those who still love their sin. For example, the only reason integrity should be a burden to you is if you enjoy being dishonest. Righteous deeds will be bothersome only because you prefer unrighteous ones. Speaking the truth will hurt only because it feels good to lie. Obedience to the righteous commands of God is easy for those whose hearts have been gripped by grace and whose lives are empowered by grace (Dt. 30:11; Mt. 11:29-30; 1 Jn. 5:3).

        – Sam Storms

  5. God provides times of unity and peace
    • Much of our society is burned out from the constant GO.  The fact is, we need times of rest – getting away from the mad rush to be refreshed.  God defined and demonstrated a weekly day of rest for us, to not only get restored, but to find peace in a renewed relationship with Him and others.  This is the day we are with church and family – not at work.

      • in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.  Exodus 31:17

        • on the seventh day you shall have a holy sabbath of solemn rest to the Lord – Exodus 35:2

      • I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.   Ephesians 4:1-3

    • Jesus said, Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.  John 14:27
      • The world cannot give peace, because it does not follow The Prince of Peace.
  6. God offers a government of peace and justice

    • For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and for evermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Isaiah 9:6-7

    • All men are corrupt – this is why we need a Savior.  It makes no sense to conclude that any government ruled by men can ever be perfect – more men just increase the opportunities and variety of failure, as basic statistics prove.  This also applies to anything made by men, such as AI (artificial intelligence) – imperfection cannot make perfection.
    • It was not God’s intent that men should be ruled by men.  If you read the story of Saul, Israel’s first king, this becomes obvious.  God intended men to follow/obey Him.  And yet, the Bible says:

      • Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of him who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval…  Romans 13

  7. God cares for the smallest of things – and definitely for You!

    • Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s will. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.  Matthew 10:29-31

    • One example of His love, is in the laws he made to protect us…
      • In Deuteronomy 22:28-29, a law is explained regarding the rape of a virgin woman.  In the society of that day, a woman’s virginity was a passport to marriage, children, the respect of society, and the care of a husband.  All of those things were far less possible (with a man of “quality”) to the non-virgin, for whom such public knowledge was like a death sentence to hope for a future.
        • The point of the law is that the man who destroys the future prospects of a virgin must make reparations by providing the blessing of a dowry to the woman’s parents, and he must provide for her needs all his life, as a husband would.  There is no stipulation of co-habitation or any husbandly privileges – this is a one-way provider law he must comply with.  Faced with such risk, this law is also a deterrent to prevent rape.
          • In ancient Jewish culture, a dowry, also called a mohar, was a payment made by the groom's family to the bride's family as a gift or purchase price. The dowry was a way for the bride's family to contribute to the costs of setting up a new household, and it could also be seen as a way to compensate for the bride's lower value compared to her brother, who would continue the family's work and legacy.
  8. God instructs and demonstrates how a husband is to treat his wife

    • Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. Even so, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is a profound one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church; however, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.  Ephesians 5:21-33

  9. God encourages us to learn and develop skill, and to profit

    • cease to do evil,    learn to do good;seek justice,    correct oppression;defend the fatherless,    plead for the widow.  Isaiah 1:17

    • From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.  Matthew 24:32-33

    • With great pains I have provided for the house of the Lord a hundred thousand talents of gold, a million talents of silver, and bronze and iron beyond weighing, for there is so much of it; timber and stone too I have provided. To these you must add. You have an abundance of workmen: stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and all kinds of craftsmen without number, skilled in working gold, silver, bronze, and iron. Arise and be doing! The Lord be with you!”  1 Chronicles 22:14-16

    • There are 281 references to the word “teach” in the Bible.

    • I am the Lord your God,    who teaches you to profit,    who leads you in the way you should go.  Isaiah 48:17

  10. God describes the end times (of this world), so we can plan our lives appropriately
    • Daniel 11, Matthew 24, Revelation
    • And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.
    • Many shall purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but those who are wise shall understand.
      • To him who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
      • He who conquers shall not be hurt by the second death.
      • To him who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it.
      • He who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, I will give him power over the nations,  and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received power from my Father;  and I will give him the morning star. 
      • He who conquers shall be clad thus in white garments, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life; I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
      • He who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
  11. God describes our next home to give us Hope and assurance of His love
    • Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.  John 14:2-3
    • God himself will be with them (Revelation 21)
      • he will wipe away every tear from their eyes
      • death shall be no more
      • neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more
    • having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
    • The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as glass. (etc)
    • its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light shall the nations walk; and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it,  and its gates shall never be shut by day—and there shall be no night there;  they shall bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.